The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 5

lllltion whioh made him yield to the influen<1e that St. Luke uses the word here in ita of the emisBRriea of J11mea (Gal. ii. 13). common medical sense. In medical writers Who W'BII c11lled. It might seem odd tl111t -Galen, Hippocrates, eto.-the 1rap0Euuµor this deacription of John sbonld be repeated is equivalent to whe.t we call an acoee,, bere 11.fter hRving been given in oh. xii. 25. from the Latin acce11sio, used by Celsus, when But perh11ps it was usual so t.o designate a diseRSe of some standing takes a turn for him (see Luke viii. 2; xxii. 3; Matt. x. 3 ; the worse, comes to e. height, and brenks out eh I. 23 ; x. 6). into its severest form. This is the sense Ver. 88.-Take Vlith thf'fll him for take him in whirh our English word "pELrnxysm" is vith th~ A.V.; witltdre10 for departed, used. The meaning of the passuge will A. V. Withdrew. The Greek word "'"""' then be that, after e. good dee.I of uncomfort- .,.,.,£,,...a (from which comes the substantive able feeling and discussion, the difference apo_Bur.sy) is a strong one, and denotes between Po.ul and 811rnabe.s, inste11d of decided blame, as does the indioation of cooling down, broke out into such an o.cute the opposite oonrse, by way of contrast, form that Barnabas went off to Ci-prus with which he did not take. "He did not go Mark, le[Lving St. Paul to do· what he with them t.o the work" to which God call~d pleased by himself. And llamabas, etc. The them, as he ought to have done. The whole lt.V. is much more accurate. The conse- phrue, too, which follows is strongly quence of the quarrel is said by St. Luke worded. "Paul tbou~ht good," as reg11rds t.o have been thnt Darnitbas took l\Iark off one who had turned back from the work, with him to Cyprus. The statement th[Lt "not to take that man." The µ~ uvµ1rapa:- Paul chose Silus is e. separate and intle- ;11.cz,B,.., of ver. S8 is, as Meyer observes, pendent statement, ns appears by ITav>.os sha.rply opposed to the uuµ1rapaJ,..a.fkw of (in the nominative) nnd •t~>.6, in the indi- ver. 37. Luke c.idently sides strongly cative mood. St. Luke's narmtive quite with Paul, and almost reproduces the ipsis- sides with St. Paul, antl throws the bl[Lme nma tJerba of the "sharp contention." One of the quarrel, or at least of the separation, would infer that this passage was penned upon Bn.rnabo.s. Renan (' St. Paul,' p. 119) by Luke before the reconciliation which thinks St. Paul was too severe upon John appean1 in 2 Tim. iv. 11, and that we have l\iark, and that it was ungrnteful of him to here an indication of the early date of the break with one to whom he owed so much publication of "The Acts." Perhaps also as he did t.o Barnabas for any co.use of there is an indication in the nure.tive, secondary importance. He also thinks that coupled with Mark's subsequent attach- the real root of the quarrel lay in the con- ment to Peter, that Mark rather leant ut stantly changing relations bPtwcen tho two this time to Judaizing views, and that his apostles, o.ggravo.ted by o. domineering spirit previous departure "from the work" was in St. l'o.ul. But the force of this censure partly owing to a want of complete sym- turns upon the question whether it was 11 fBll1y with St. Paul's doctrine. St. Paul ea.use of secondary importance. If St. Paul would have no half-henrted helper in his had a single eye to the success of his grand and arduous work. mission, and judged that l\ie.rk would be o. Ver. 39.-Tliere arose a aliarp ccmtenticm hindrance to it, it was a qucsti11n of primary far tJie «mtention toaa 80 sharp between them, importance to" the work," and St. Paul was A.V. aud T.R.; parted for departed, A.V.; rigi,t. Rene.n also remarks upon the ex- •o that for ao sliarp . . . that, A. V.; and tinction of the fame of Barnabas consequent Barnab11,11 for and M Barnabas, A. V. ; took upon this separation from his more illustrious Mark unth him for took Mark, A. V.; sailed companion. "While Po.ul kept advancing at.0ay for sailed, A. V. There arose a sharp t.o the heights of hie glory, Barnabas, sepa- contention, etc. The sense " between them" rated from the companion who ha~ shed e. must be supplied, if the English word " con- portion of his owu lustre upon him, pursue,! tention" it! used. Tue word npo!utrµ&s only his solitary course in obscurity." Sailed occurs twice in the New Testament: once in away. Cyprus was Bamabas'e no.tive Heb. L 24, in a good sense, •· To provoke" country (eh. iv. SG), e.nd the scene of the (for a provocation)-" stimulate or excite" earliest mission (eh. xi. 19), and of Paul -" unto love and good works," which is ita and Barnabas's first joint evangelistic common cl1W1ical sense ; the other time in labours (eh. xiii. 1). Barnalms W(,uhl havo this passage, where the sense is attributed many friencls there, and could form plans io it in which it is used in the LXX., a.a in at his leiijure for his future action. 'rl1e Deut. mx. 28, 'E., 6uµ(p ttal om ttal 1rapo- friendly mention of him in I Cor. ix. G (ua-i'-¥ µ,-ydA,,, urpo6pa., "in great indignation;" shows both that I.,e continuctl hi~ disinto• and in Jer. xuii. 37 (xx.xiL 37, LXX.), rested labours o.s an aposllo and t!.,at the coupled with the same words,,., 1rapo(uuµqi estrangcmeut between him o.nd St. Paul h11,i l'-''YGNp, "in great wrath;" answering t.o passed e.way. Tile paroxysm had yieldetl to flip, in Hebrew. But it ill more pr:,bable the gentle treatment of eho.rity. OH. XV. 1-41.] 'l'Irn ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 7